People are increasingly interested in providing security to a building. Security in a home setting may be particularly significant for a home owner or resident who is away from home, who has small children, or who keeps valuable items at the home. For such an owner or resident to feel secure, security and privacy may be provided through various security mechanisms. Example methods include using door and window locks, the use of video security cameras, or intrusion detection security systems. Some or all of these components may be automated, and potentially included as part of an automation system associated with one or more other functions.
In general, a security system may include multiple sensors to detect particular events, and to potentially control different devices. A door or window sensor may detect when a door or window is opened or broken. If the security system is armed, the sensor may send a signal that can be received by the control panel. The control panel may then sound an alarm and/or may communicate information about the detected event to a central monitoring, or back-end system. Such a system may use the received information to potentially contact an individual associated with the security system, to contact police or other emergency personnel, or to take other follow-up actions.
Criminals have been creative in determining how to enter a home or other location without the entry resulting in an alarm or a notification to the user and/or emergency personnel. One mechanism they use is the so-called “crash-and-smash” technique. This technique relies on the intruder entering the location and quickly finding the control panel. The intruder may then destroy the control panel before it has a chance to sound an alarm and/or alert a remote monitoring system of the entry. This technique is made easier in some cases as the control panel may delay sending a signal for a period of time. Because the control panel may not be able to detect the difference between an authorized person entering a location, and an unauthorized intruder entering the same location, the delay is provided to give the authorized person time to enter the location and disarm the device. This delay may be referred to as an “entry delay.”
To attempt to combat this technique, some systems may detect an entry into a location, and immediately send a signal instead of waiting for the entry delay to expire. To allow an authorized person time to disarm the security system, the back-end system may wait for the entry delay to expire before taking action. As a result, an authorized person may enter and disarm the security system, which can trigger the control panel sending a signal to the back-end system that cancels the prior signal. If, however, a cancellation signal is not provided within the entry delay period, the back-end monitoring system may notify a user of the security system and/or emergency personnel. This system has, however, resulted in a significant number of false alarms. Providers of security systems receive an estimated hundreds of false alarms each day through such a system.